


I Bless the Rains Down in Africa

by Strength_in_pain



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: And Max loves Lucas, Cute Mike Wheeler, Gen, Madwheeler?, Maxine "Max" Mayfield is a Good Friend, Mike Wheeler and Max Mayfield are friends, Not really because Mike still loves Eleven more that life itself, Soft Mike Wheeler, but come on there’s something between the two of them, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-22
Packaged: 2020-01-11 17:50:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18429074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strength_in_pain/pseuds/Strength_in_pain
Summary: Max Mayfield arrives at the Wheeler’s house for an early D&D game, but she finds out Mike has a guitar...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a prompt for darkraider46 (I hope I got the username right.) I also hope you enjoy this. It’s a little short but I had fun writing it. 
> 
> :)

 

It was raining outside, practically hammering down on the roof like a hail of bullets. The sky was in the twilight zone, where it’s not too dark yet, but not too light. 

Mike sat on his basement couch lazily flipping through drawings Will made, and listening to the rain fall. 

He used to love the rain. It made him feel safe. He met Eleven, the girl he absolutely adored, in the rain. But then, he lost his best friend, Will, right after a giant rain storm. 

Mike stared at the pictures Will drew very carefully. He was so grateful his friend was alright. He thought for sure Will was dead, but he was wrong. Mike’s never been so happy to be wrong. 

The next time it rained, he had lost Eleven. She was really gone for a whole year, and Mike felt like the world had drowned from the amount of rain Hawkins produced. 

He shook his head, willing those memories away. Eleven was home now. She was safe. He was safe. But still, it rained. 

Mike smiled when he came across the picture of the Zoomer that Will drew. It was a fake class in the D&D world that Max Mayfield made up when she was arguing with him in the gym last year. 

Mike sighed remembering how many snide comments he had given her. She never gave up on him though. She continued to try and be his friend even when he told her she couldn’t be part of the party. 

Honestly, she was more snarky to Lucas and Dustin than she was to Mike. He thinks it’s because Max can relate to him in a way. She told him she was angry and hurting because of her step-brother, but she didn’t want to be angry. She could see that in Mike too. Max barely knew Mike, but somehow, she could sense that he was a good person. The way he looked after Will was probably her first sign, Mike reflected biting on his nail. She knew he was going through something and even though she didn’t know what it was, she was gentle with him. Everyone else treated Mike normally that year, his parents actually punished him more for his attitude; Max was the only one who seemed to consider that Mike was acting out because of pain. Which is sad, really, because Max can relate to him through the pain she had felt with her brother. 

Speaking of the girl, Mike nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw her standing outside of the basement door. 

It was strange that she didn’t use his front door. Max used the front door every other time she came over. 

Mike leaped up from the couch, and opened the door. “Hey..um..Max. What are you doing here?” Mike stuttered dumbly. 

It was still awkward between them. When they were in a group of friends it wasn’t so weird. Max could buffer herself with Lucas and Mike could shield himself with Eleven. With their friends, they could sass one another relentlessly and laugh about it. But alone, things were tense. He had apologized. She had forgiven him. They had talked briefly, discussed why they were both hurting so much. Mike felt better now that Eleven was back and he happily had accepted Max into the party. But despite all of that, things were strange. 

“I’m sorry.” Max muttered, shaking her soaked hair out of her face like a puppy out of the bath. “I’m early for our D&D campaign, so I didn’t want to knock and bother your parents.”

“Oh.” Mike said, not knowing what else to say. 

She waited for the invite into his house, but when it didn’t come, she started to back up.

“I can go home and come back in an hour.”

“No!” Mike said, snapping out of his gaze. “No, you don’t have to go home. Please, come in.” 

Shifting in her feet, Max shrugged her shoulders. “You don’t have to invite me in if you don’t want to. It’s cool, really.”

“Max. I want you to come in. It’s freezing out there anyway. Come get dry and warm.”

Sighing, Max walked past him, into the cozy Wheeler basement. She loved it down there, but she’d never tell Mike that, of course. 

The soft couch looked worn from the amount of use it was put through. A plethora of Mike’s toys were scattered on the floor. There was even a TV that got moved downstairs when Mike’s family upgraded to a new one. And of course, the famous pillow fort was practically beaming as Max walked by it. 

By blinking, Max almost missed it, but she saw out of the corner of her eye, a beautiful brown wooded acoustic guitar laying in the corner of the fort. 

“What’s that?” She asked, walking over to the pile of blankets. She knelt down next to the opening of the fort Mike made for Eleven. From that angle, Max could see everything Mike had hidden in the fort. 

She suddenly felt like she was invading his personal space. If Mike had a diary, this would be it. There were comics and toys neatly tucked to the side. There were several comfy pillows all over the floor. Mike’s walkie-talkie was laying on one of the pillows. Eleven’s name was scratched onto one of the comic books, and there was a ton of movies down there. She also noticed a make-up kit, which was probably Mike’s sister’s since it said “Nancy” across the top. Then there was empty bowls of what looked like ice cream. Finally there was the guitar and a walkman. Max smiled at Mike’s choice of headphones. She had the same pair. 

“I didn’t know you liked music so much.” 

“Yeah,” Mike laughed uneasily, “Well when your parents a fighting half the time, it’s fun to just come down here and listen to music.”

Max smiled, “Do you play?” She asked gripping his guitar. 

“Oh. Um. A little. Not very well.” He stuttered nervously. “Eleven. She likes when I sing. But you know, she probably biased.”

“Can you sing Africa by Toto?” Max blurted out. Both of them were taken-aback at her request. 

“I’m sorry, I don’t know where that came from -“ Max rambled, “I just really like the song, you know? Maybe you don’t know it. And even if you did, I’m sure you wouldn’t want to play it for me, but like I really like that chorus, you know, the “I bless the rains down in Africaaaa.” It’s incredible and the guy has to choose between Africa and the girl he found there and -“

Mike started strumming while Max was talking. She hadn’t realized it until she slowed down enough to catch the rhythm of his guitar. 

“Oh you do know it?” Max felt herself wanting to bounce on her heels she was so excited. 

Mike looked nervous as he cleared his throat, “I hear the drums echoing tonight. But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversaaaaation. She’s coming in 12:30 flight. The moonlight wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvaaaaation. I stopped an old man along the way, hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient meeeelodies. He turned to me as if to say, hurry boy, it’s waiting there for you.”

Max was sitting on the floor, her legs criss-crossed and she was swaying as Mike sang. He was sitting on the floor strumming his guitar. 

“It’s gonna take a lot to drag me away from you. There’s nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do. I bless the rains down in Africa. Gonna take some time to do the things we never haaaaaaaaaddd.”

Mike put his guitar down, face flushed. He shrugged his shoulders. “I told you I wasn’t very good.”

“No that was good. Really good.” Max said, standing when Mike stood. 

Their eyes locked for a solid two minutes and it was even weirder than before, but luckily, the upstairs door opened, and Dustin called out a loud Hello. Mike quickly averted his attention to the rest of his Party who were flooding down the stairs. 

“Mike! Guess what? We have a whole bunch of ideas for the next campaign.” Will shouted. 

“Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!” Dustin yelled over his friend, “We were thinking the Party could have to travel through a Ziggurat, but then, like they get trapped in this underground cave with a crazy person.”

“A crazy person?” Mike asked, plopping down on the chair next to the D&D game board.

“No,” Lucas said, glaring at Dustin, “I said a mute person who will be rolling around on the floor all deranged and stuff. And I figured, you being the Dungeons Master and all, could figure out what type of creature he should be. Because obviously he shouldn’t be a real human. That would be boring.”

“Naturally.” Max teased. 

It was only then that Lucas even noticed Max was sitting on the couch. 

“When did you get here?”

Max shrugged. “I came early. There wasn’t much to do at home, you know?” 

Something told Mike that Lucas knew more about Max’s home life than he did. But Mike didn’t press on the subject. 

“Okay, I’m thinking a shapeshifter.” Mike whispered to Will. 

He then announced to everyone that he had chosen a creature for the strange mute to be. “Only Will can know because he’s out Cleric and he has connections to the spirit world.”

“Oh whatever.” Dustin muttered, “I’m sure whatever the son-of-bitch is, we’ll figure it out. Because we’re the best Party ever.”


	2. I can explain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So, i’m doing the prompt on this same story, because it’s still about Mike and Max. (I broke it into two chapters. I hope you enjoy it. Sorry it took so long.)

“Dude, Where is Mike?” Dustin asked, unhooking his bike from the rack.

“He left. Again.” Lucas muttered, glaring in the direction of the open road. 

“Oh you mean he left with Max.” Dustin said, giving his friend a playful shove. 

“It’s not funny, man. He keeps leaving school with her. They don’t even bother to wait for the rest of us.” 

“I’m sure they’re just fighting anyway.” Will said as he unlocked his bike. Pushing it a few feet, Will hopped on and started circling his two friends. “I mean. That’s all they ever do is tease eachother.” 

“Yeah but...” Lucas trailed off. 

“What?” Will and Dustin said simultaneously. 

“Jinks!” Dustin screamed, “you owe me a soda.” 

“Darn it.” Will said, but he had a smile on his face. Come to think of it, Will always seemed to have a smile on his face. Well, at least, he did before he ended up in the upside down. Since then, it’s been rare to see Will this smiley. It was a nice change.

“Dustin. Did you hear me.” 

That was Lucas. Come to think of it, Lucas has been more irritated lately. First he was angry about Eleven joining the party, then he was competing with Dustin for Max. And now that he has Max he’s getting jealous of her leaving with Mike. 

“No, what did you say?” 

Lucas groaned, “Forget it.” 

“No wait. I’m sorry Lucas. I was thinking about Will and Max.”

Lucas shook his head, and jumped on his bike. “The problem isn’t Will and Max. It’s Mike and Max.”

“Why because they went home together?” 

“Are you...Jealous?” Will asked quietly. 

Dustin snorted, “Of Mike? Yeah right.” He stopped laughing when he saw Lucas’s face, “Shit, are you seriously jealous of him?” 

“Shut up.” Lucas yelled, speeding off onto the street. 

“Dammit.” Dustin was not ready to chase his friend across town. He didn’t even unlock his bike yet, and he was still sore from playing kickball at recess. “Will, keep eyes on him.” 

Dustin didn’t even have to tell him, the kid was already chasing down Lucas at full speed. As quickly as he could, Dustin got on his bike and tried to catch up. No one knew where Lucas was going. He went past Cherry Street where Max lived. He past his quiet cul-de-sac and drove straight towards Will’s house. 

“Where is he going?” Dustin asked into his walkie-talkie, but Will was too busy to answer. He was right on Lucas’s tail. A few miles past Will’s and they went directly into the forest. 

“What the hell.” Dustin shouted, his bike was bumping over every tree root making it impossible to ride through the woods. 

He ended up falling off his bike. He saw Will do the same at some point, but Lucas was still going strong. It wasn’t until he was at least two yards in front of Dustin that he fell off of his bike. 

“Lucas. Hey Lucas. I know you can hear me.”  Dustin called, walking quickly towards his friend. But he was out of shape, and his breathing was growing too heavy. He needed a break. So he crouched down on the ground to catch his breath. 

“Dustin! Are you okay?” Will was by his side instantly. 

“Yeah. I’m fine. You keep going. Try to get to him. See what’s bothering him.”

Will nodded and continued to follow Lucas until they reached a cabin in the woods. Will stopped behind Lucas and stared at the place. He knew this place. Mike talked about it all the time. 

“Eleven.” Will whispered under his breath. 

A few seconds after Lucas knocked on the door, and a girl with short curly brown hair came out onto the porch. 

“Mike.” She shouted running outside. The second she saw Lucas and Will her smile vanished. “Oh.”

“He’s not here. Again.” Lucas stared at her with unnerving eyes. 

“Where is Mike?”

“Where do you think?” 

Eleven crossed her arms over her chest. “Max.”

“Yep. Again. For like the, what is it, the seventh time this week. Is it seven.”

“Nine.” Eleven growled. 

Will’s eyes widened, “Whoa, you’re keeping count? Guys seriously?” Eleven and Lucas exchanged glances. 

“He hasn’t been over in a while.” Eleven admitted quietly. 

“Neither has Max. But yet, they have been leaving school everyday together. You wanna tell me what that sounds like to you?”

Will shrugged. “I don’t know. But I know it’s nothing bad.”

Lucas rolled his eyes. “Right.”

“Hey, I trust Mike. You should too. And you should really trust Max. She is your girlfriend.”

“What if Mike doesn’t like me anymore.” Eleven said. She was looking at her fingernails, picking at the paint she must have recently put on. 

“Then he’ll tell you.” Will said, “Because Mike’s not a cheater. But come on, El. This is Mike we’re talking about. He loves you. There’s no way he’d date someone else.”

“Especially not Max.” Dustin shouted from afar. He was almost at the top of the hill by now. Every few steps he took were slow, but he was managing to make it to the porch. 

“They are right.” Eleven said. “Mike and Max are my friends. They would not cheat.”

Lucas nodded. “Yeah. I guess you’re right. But come on El. You gotta admit it’s weird.”

“Yes.” She said. “Very strange.” 

“We could go to his house and ask him.” Will suggested.

“Will that’s...actually a good idea.” Lucas ignored the glare Will sent him, and led his group back to their bikes. 

“Oh man. Are we seriously walking again?” Dustin gasped, his chest heaving with every panting breath. As usual his friends ignored him as if he were asking a rhetorical question. “Guys!” 

The ride to Mike’s house wasn’t so bad, but as soon as they got there, Mrs. Wheeler answered the door with her hair in a bun. She had a bottle of champagne in her hand with a ribbon tied around it. 

Her smile faded quickly, “Oh. It’s just you.”

Before Lucas could say anything, Mrs. Wheeler threw her head back with a loud bellow, “MIKE!” 

The kids shuffled their feet and winced. It was extremely awkward for four minutes before Karen Wheeler screamed again, this time louder, if that was even possible. 

“Mom! I’m in the middle of something.” His voice sounded distant. 

“Your friends are here.” She yelled. “So get your butt in here and greet them.” 

“Shit.” There was a loud banging noise and then, some fumbling around noises coming from the basement. 

“Do you mind if we let ourselves in?” Lucas asked, already pushing Mrs. Wheeler aside and rushing into the house. 

Mike’s mother scoffed, muttering something under her breath along the lines of how kids these days are so rude. 

Lucas yanked the door to the basement open, then he and Eleven proceeded to run down stairs. Will and Dustin followed behind them, much more apologetically. By the time they got to the bottom step, Mike was shutting the outside door behind him. 

“Upstairs!” Lucas screamed, turning back around, and trying to shove his three friends back up the stairs. “Hurry, hurry! Someone left outside.”

“Guys! What are you doing?” Mike watched with worried eyes. The group made it outside within a matter of minutes. 

“Ha! I knew it.” Lucas screamed, catching Max by her wrist. 

“Let go.” She shrieked.

“What are you doing at Mike’s house?” 

The two stared at one another dangerously. She took a step closer, so her lips were only inches from his face. “Let. Go.” She dragged the words out slowly, but forcefully. 

Lucas snarled, but released her wrist. “Why are you running off? Huh? Are you cheating on me?”

“What?” Both Mike and Max shrieked at the same time. 

“You think...with Mike...ew, God no.” Max scrunched her face in disgust. 

“Thanks Max.” The pale, black haired boy said.

“Sorry.” She muttered. “But you know we’re not -“

“No, Yeah, I know we’re not interested in eachother. How could you even think that?” Mike asked, and then an idea struck him and he spun towards Eleven so fast his head might have fallen off. “El, did you think...did you think I would cheat on you?”

The girl looked terrified as she stared at him, guiltily. She shyly shrugged. Before Mike could say anything, another girl from school named Gracie came out of the basement door in a short mini skirt. 

“Hey Mike, I was thinking I should wear something sexy for tomorrow night. Do you like pink or red lipstick?” 

Mike squeezed his eyes shut. “Now is not a good time Gracie.”Mike mumbled, as Eleven started to run past him. “El, wait. I can explain.”

“Don’t bother.” Lucas said, shaking his head in disgust. “You two are liars. And friends don’t lie.”

“Jesus, Lucas.” Max threw her hands out in front of her and clawed them in the air. “I’m not lying. Mike and I are just -“

“What? What could you possibly be doing on a Thursday night.”

“A lot of things.” Max yelled.

“A lot of things, oh that’s nice.”

“Not like that. We we’re just...practicing.”

“Practicing? Practicing for what?” 

“I can’t tell you. But you have to believe me, it has nothing to do with our relationship.” 

“Oh yeah, I can see that Mike doesn’t think cheating with two different girls has anything to do with his relationship with El, either. But I’m here to tell you, it does affect me, Max and It affects Eleven too, right El?”

“Right.” 

Mike rolled his eyes, “Stop brainwashing her!”

“I’m not brainwashing her. You stop cheating on her.”

“I’m not cheating on her!”

“Then who is that other girl? And what were you doing with Max. Did Max even know you were seeing Gracie too? I guess she didn’t care since she knew you were cheating on El already.”

“Wow, you are so far off right now it’s actually laughable.” Max yelled. 

“Care to tell me the truth, then?”

“She already told you the truth. You just didn’t want to believe her.” 

“Screw you, Mike.”

“No. Screw you, Lucas.” 

“Guys can we please stop fighting.” Will begged. 

“Yeah, you know what?” Max said, throwing her skateboard on the ground, “I’m out of here anyways. Call me when you realize your being an asshole. Okay, Stalker?” 

With that, she was off, flying down the street and pushing on her leg as if she were running a marathon. 

“Oh, Good job.” Mike yelled, “Now what am I supposed to do?” 

“Gee I don’t know.” Lucas said, “Maybe being alone for a little while will teach you to respect your girlfriend and keep your hands off of mine.” 

Lucas went towards his bike, “Come on Eleven. I’ll take you home.”  

At this point El was crying. She scurried behind Lucas and hopped on the back of his bike. 

“I never touched your girlfriend!” Mike screamed. 

“Well, actually, you did touch her hands quite a few times tonight.”

“GRACIE!” Mike screamed, throwing her a deadly glare. 

Maybe it was the nostalgia of being on the back of someone’s bike, or maybe it was the pain from her broken heart, but Eleven extended her hand towards Mike, ready to shove him against a wall. Mike’s eyes went wide, because he knew that pose all too well. Eleven was about to use her powers. 

“No, don’t.” Lucas said, grabbing her wrist. “Gracie.” He whispered, indicating the pretty brunette standing in the doorframe of Mike’s basement. Eleven knew what he meant. She can’t expose her powers to anyone else. It might put her in danger. So Eleven dropped her hand, and turned her face away, into Lucas’s back. 

“Eleven! it’s not what you think. Honestly! Eleven please don’t go.” Mike yelled after them as they peddled down the hill. “ELEVEN!” 

“We should go back.” She whispered, but Lucas shook his head. “Just leave him.” 

“ELEVEN!” Mike screeched, heading for his own bike. 

“No, Mike, just let them go.” Dustin said, trying to hold his friend back. 

“No. NO. I will not lose her again. I WILL NOT LOSE HER AGAIN!” 

“So... who was that, exactly? And why were you calling her Eleven?” Mike pouted, turning towards Gracie.

 “Nothing.” He snapped, like an angry turtle biting off fingers. 

“Well excuse me,” she huffed, flipping her puffy hair and going back inside. 

Dustin and Will looked at him awkwardly. Suddenly Mike felt alienated and scrutinized. It was one thing for Lucas to argue with him, but for Will to look at him like that, like he did something horrible, made Mike sick. He thought his stomach might actually tighten so much that he would puke all over the driveway. 

“Just go home.” He screamed at both of them, before slamming the door in their faces. 


	3. I can explain (part 2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second part where a heart-broken Eleven goes to the school talent show with Lucas, Dustin and Will.

“I can’t believe he would do that.” Will whispered, as he sat on Eleven’s couch. The girl was still crying. She had spent all night curled on the couch. When Hopper asked what was wrong she had said she didn’t feel well. Even though she was mad at Mike, she didn’t want Hopper to beat him up like he promised he would do if Mike ever hurt her. 

“You shouldn’t sit here all day.” Dustin mumbled, patting Eleven’s back. “Come with us to the school talent show tonight. That might cheer you up.”

“Yeah.” Lucas agreed. He, himself, was sulking most of the night. Dustin refused to leave him alone for fear of him breaking something. He already kicked all four walls in his bedroom and completely cussed Mike out for a while. 

“Friends don’t lie.” He kept repeating and Dustin sat there and listened. He wanted to be respectful, but he also wanted to play peace-keeper partially because he didn’t think Mike was necessarily doing anything wrong. 

“Maybe he and Max were just studying?”

Lucas had scoffed at that, “Didn’t Steve say that’s what Nancy called it when they were fooling around.”

“Come on, Lucas. You know as well as I do that Mike’s not ‘fooling around.’”

“But he’s cheating.” 

It went on like that all throughout the school day and now, at Eleven’s, Lucas is still complaining. 

Dustin couldn’t wait to get to the talent show so he could catch a break. He’s been to the Hawkins Middle School talent show before, and he knows how boring it usually is, but anything would be better than seeing his two friends cry and complain. 

“Don’t want to go.” Eleven sniffled. 

“Why not? Mike won’t be there.” 

“Yeah. Neither will Max.” Lucas added. “They’ll be off doing God knows what, and we can be having a fun night without them. Why should we be miserable when it’s them being the jerks?”

Eleven sat up and wiped her eyes, “What is Talent Show?” 

“It’s like when a bunch of people from school do creative stuff like sing or dance.” 

“Some people do magic tricks.” Dustin said, “I was thinking of doing that. But I didn’t want to steal the whole show, you know? Gotta let other people have a chance to win.”

“Right.” 

Dustin glared at Lucas, and then flipped him off. “I’m good.”

“Dude, you poured milk into a glass and then made it disappear by dumping it on the floor.”

“That was an accident!” 

“Like I was saying, the talent show is for actual talented people.”

“Screw you Lucas. A guy makes one mistake-“

“We should go.” Eleven said, “it sounds like fun.”

“It hopefully will be.” 

They were four acts in, and so far the show was going well, but unfortunately it wasn’t distracting enough. Eleven was feeling nauseous just sitting there. She knew nobody except her small group of friends. 

The stage was brightly lit with spotlights, and the audience, where Eleven sat, was in shadows. A speech boomed over the crowd, indicating that another act was about to begin. 

Throughout it all, the only thing Eleven could think about was losing two of her closest friends. Well, Max wasn’t that close to her yet, but she was beginning to be one of her best friends. 

Another round of applause happened and then Principal Lee took the mic again.

“That was lovely, Marc. Next is a new band put together by four of our wonderful students. Please welcome, Nerd Telepathy. 

 Eleven leaned over Will’s shoulder and whispered, “Telepathy?”

When the curtain opened, the entire party gasped. Will grabbed Dustin’s arm. Dustin couldn’t blink. Lucas put a hand over his mouth, and Eleven forgot how to breathe. 

One time, when Eleven was stuck in the lab, she was forced to climb a rock wall for training. She slipped at one point, and fell to the ground. The impact had knocked every wisp of air from her lungs, and she laid there struggling to inhale, to exhale, to do anything.  
  
That's how she felt right now, trying to remember how to breathe, unable to speak, totally stunned as Mike standing on stage with a guitar bounced around inside her skull.

Max was standing behind, to the side of Mike with a key-guitar wrapped around her neck.

“Are they...Holy shit.” Dustin said, watching as they began playing a familiar song. Gracie was on the drums. 

“She’s really good.” Lucas heard a kid behind them say as Max stared shredding the key-guitar to the beat of “Take On Me.” 

“I didn’t even know she knew how to play guitar.” Lucas whispered. 

“Talking away.” Mike’s voice rang out. 

“I didn’t know Mike could sing,” Eleven whispered. 

“Though I don't know what I'm to say. I'll say it anyway. Today's another day to find you. Shying away. I'll be coming for your love, okay? Take on me.”

Max and the girls did the back-up vocals, “Take on me.”

“Take on me. (Take on me). I’ll be gone. In a day or two.”

“Holy shit.” Dustin repeated, slapping Lucas’s chest. “Do you hear him right now?”

“Yeah man. The courage it had to take to do this. Wow.”

When it was finally over, Mike put down the guitar. “Thank you.” He said, rather shyly. 

Dustin, Lucas, Will, and Eleven scooted out of their seats and rushed backstage. 

Max and Mike were in the middle of sharing a long drawn out hug. 

“You did so good out there, Bro.” Max whispered to which Mike chuckled.

“So did you, big sister.” 

They pulled apart. “Hey, I’m not that much older than you.” 

“Eight months.” 

Max shrugged, “I guess that mean I can kick your ass more.” 

“Mike!” Eleven called, waving her hands at him. 

Mike practically shoved Max away, worry covering every inch of his face. 

“El. I can explain. Max and I were just hugging because we -“

“You were in a band.” She said, throwing her arms around him. Mike was physically taken aback. 

“Yeah, I was practicing with Max for the talent show. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you guys, but we didn’t want you to come and cheer us on because we were afraid we would choke if we saw you out there and we really wanted to win.”

Max nodded, “We wanted to win for you idiots.”

“The winner gets free tickets to the spring dance. And free access to the ice cream bar. I wanted to surprise you.” Mike said, cheeks flushing red. “I hope you’re not mad at me.”

“No. Not mad.” Eleven said, pulling Mike closer, “I’m whole-way happy.”

Mike squeezed her closer, and kissed her soft lips. “You gotta try to trust me, Eleven. I promise you, I would never ever cheat on you. If things aren’t working out, we’ll talk about it. I owe you that much respect.” Eleven just nodded, refusing to let go.

Max faced Lucas with her arms crossed over her chest. “You have to trust me too, stalker.” She said. 

“I’m sorry, Max. I should have listened.”

Max smirked, “Yeah, you should have.” But then she pulled him in for a kiss. 

“Oh gross.” Dustin whined. He turned to Will, “we deserve so much better than this, we were good friends to them.”

“You’re right. You wanna get ice cream and make our friends pay.”

“This is why I love you, Byers.” Dustin said. 


End file.
